Sunday, October 29, 2006

The Rain Game

I was in the UK last week as couldn't believe the uproar going on over the environment. Apparently, the lack of water in the London area of England is so bad, that Environment Minister Lord Rooker even proposed that London's population be relocated to Northern England! The environmental issues were the talk of the town.

I was rather surprised by the following:

1. Water in the UK isn't metered, but you pay a flat annual fee. I found that rather odd for a country that pretends they need to watch water consumption.

2. During Israel's winter, everyone is happy when it's raining -- a "good" day means it's raining. An excellent day is when the Kinneret fills up some more. In England...a rainy day is considered "bad"...and everyone thinks the environment is "the government's problem." Take my advice -- start metering your water, and be happy when it rains. Don't say, "The weather's awful" -- but be appreciative when the rain is filling up your reservoirs.

Watching the Kinneret's level rise every day is one of our national pastimes, and we hope and pray with "Mashiv HaRuach UMorid HaGeshem" (prayer for rain) that it will get filled to the brim this and every year.

We also watch the YNET flash animation that shows us the Kinneret's status every day...(if the flash animation doesn't work below, just click on the link)

As an addition to bagel blogger - also in Victoria (where I am, that's south of NSW where he is) is drought situation. So we also have water restrictions and the government is only now beginning to think about reusing water.

I wish there was more reuse in Israel! I can't tell you how impressed I was when visiting New York City (which also has water problems) to see a watering truck labeled something like "Non-potable water. City Ordanance XXX". I'd like to see that here, and more trapping and stuff. We could continue to have our gardens and still save water if we'd try. We're better at agricultural reuse and water saving.

Anonymous: The very fact that they would save water and use it for those purposes just strengthens my point. I don't believe we do those things here, and I think it's a mistake. It's abuse a resource that from my perspective is a gift from on High (pun intended). ;)

We've officially had a drought for about 12 months, and it's seen as a bit of a joke considering it rains so much. But rainfall has been below average for a while and the water table is low so the concerns may well be legitimate.

As for water meters, they're a great idea. But most people in the UK are quite socialist and the idea of people paying more to use more is not too popular. "What about the poor?", "evil capitalist water companies", etc. etc.

As for point 2, everyone thinks everything is the government's responsibility. The UK is about as statist as it gets. Pretty much every problem is expected to be solved with more legislation.

As for the environment, the latest is proposed new green taxes to stop global warming:link